El Salvador: The Death of a Thousand Cuts

The guerrillas are stronger, and the army weaker, than appeared

"I think we are now observing a stalemate. And in that kind of war, if you are not winning, you are losing."

So says Lieut. General Wallace H. Nutting, commander in chief of the Panama-based U.S. Southern Command, in reference to beleaguered El Salvador. Nutting has reason for his surprisingly frank—and gloomy— assessment. Yet another offensive by an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 leftist guerrillas has been under way in the Central American republic for several weeks. The insurgents are more than holding their own: they...